


Romeo Wheeler & Juliet Hopper

by AntoniaParanoia



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Eleven likes Shakespeare, F/M, No Angst, Romeo and Juliet References, Thanks, They will perform the play lol, cute and fluffy, romeo and juliet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:53:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12697767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntoniaParanoia/pseuds/AntoniaParanoia
Summary: Eleven wants to perform a play and after reading Shakespeare she begs her loved ones to participate in her wish. She chooses Romeo & Juliet





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I did this

Jim Hopper was sitting in front of his adoptive daughter watching her with his mouth hanging open, did he just hear what he thought he heard?

"¿What?" He asked confused. 

"I want to play Juliet in Romeo & Juliet" she answered truthfully. Hooper didn't even know she read Shakespeare.

"Kid, you are not even in school yet" he replied still a little bit confused by everything. How could she understand the old English used in those stories?

"That does not matter, I want to play it with my friends" she demanded. She had learned a lot with her dictionary and her friends had helped her with the grammar and structure.

"Okay... And if you are Juliet who would Romeo be?" He asked narrow-eyed.

"Mike" she answered without even batting an eye. Hop was kind of expecting that.

"Right... So what do you need?" He asked trying to process everything.

"I already have the book, Nancy gave it to me. I need the pretty dress and I need a Papa Capulet" she said. 

Hopper got everything except the last part.

"A Papa what?" He asked puzzled, it has been years since he read that book, and he found it kind of boring back in the day.

"Capulet. Juliet's papa" Eleven answered looking at him right in the eye with hopeful eyes.

"You want me to play Capulet?" He chuckled slightly by her request. His heart warmed by her wish of him playing his fictional father. Although he was already her actual father in some way.

"Yes, and I want Joyce to be Lady Capulet, Juliet's mama" she added with a small smile.

Hopper's laugh was cut off by that, he stared at Eleven for some seconds, this was not a joke then...

"Did you think in all the characters already?" He didn't know why he sounded so surprised.

"Yes!! I will be Juliet, Mike will be Romeo, you and Joyce will be Lord and Lady Capulet, Will Benvolio, Lucas Mercutio, Dustin Tybalt, Max Rosaline, Mike's parents will be Lord and Lady Montague, Nancy will be the Nurse, Jonathan will be Paris, Steve will be Prince Escalus and Mr. Clark will be Friar Laurence" she explained doing gestures with her hands.

"Wait, do you even know Mr. Clark?" This was really confusing for Hopper. Eleven shook her head in a negative response.

"No but the boys always talk about him, so he needed to be a part of the story, besides he is the confidant!" Eleven proclaimed.

"Do they know you are planning this?" Eleven again shook her head negatively.

"Surprise" she said.

"Do you think Jonathan is going to be mad because I choose him to be Paris? I thought about Max's creepy brother, but I don't like him so he didn't deserve to be on the play, I think Jonathan could be a good actor" she said kind of worried. Hopper let out a breathy laugh.

"He won't be mad kid, I assure you that, okay you know what this sounds fun, I will help you, but where do we start?" Jim said half happy half annoyed by all of this, but if El was happy it was enough for him. She's been in hell and this was the least he could do. She deserved this.

"We have a lot to do! But first I need to tell the story to everyone, can we dine with Will, Joyce and Jonathan tomorrow?" She asked with puppy eyes.

"It sounds good, but I need to call Joyce first okay, we can't drop there uninvited" he always tries to teach her good manners, even if he wasn't the best example.

Eleven nodded. "Then I will tell the rest of the group! Do you think they will want to participate?"

"I think so, it sounds like an interesting project... Now you should go to sleep" Hopper said pointing his finger to El's bedroom.

She pouted. "I'm not sleepy yet, let's watch a movie" 

"Let me guess? Romeo and Juliet?" Jim asked ironically.

"Okay!" El answered excited. 

They sat on the couch and after 5 minutes they fell asleep, Hopper snoring soundly and El curled up next to him. The tragic romance on screen was still on... And soon the protagonist were going to be them...


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello?" He heard Joyce's voice on the line, she sounded kind of nervous maybe because phonecalls made her feel like that, well, after what happened it was kind of obvious that she would react that way.

"Hey Joyce, is Hopper" he answered with a slightly cheerful voice for her not to feel scared.

"Oh! Hi Hop! How are you?" She asked relieved. 

"Fine fine, and you?" He answered as he sips his coffee.

"Everything is nice, hey since you called, would you like to dine with El and the boys at my place?" She asked with a sweet tone. Maybe she didn't mean it, but for Hopper it was a sweet tone.

"That's sounds wonderful, El and I will bring the dessert. Actually, I was going to ask you if we could drop by, El has this idea of preparing a play with the boys and all" he explained to her still finding it funny, and of course annoying.

"Oh really? What play?" She asked playfully.

"Romeo & Juliet, such tragic and cheesy" he said kind of annoyed.

"Oh... The star-crossed lovers, huh? I think the boys would agree, they wouldn't say no to her" she admitted chuckling slightly.

"That's not it, she wants us to participate too" Hopper added pinching the bridge of his nose laughing slightly too.

"She wants us to act too?" Joyce asked truly surprised.

"Yes, as Lord and Lady Capulet, can you believe it?" Hop asked smiling at the idea.

There was a short silence between them.

"Joyce?" He asked confused, did something happened to the call?

"Yeah! I just... Wasn't expecting it, but it sounds fun! I was never a good actress though" she admitted blushing slightly, thanks God Hopper could not see it.

"Me either! I don't know why she chooses us" he said snorting. Eleven was an intelligent girl, but it didn't cross their mind the potential her choices had.

"Okay, we definitely will talk about this further at dinner, see you at 7' Hop, have a nice day" she said softly.

"Thank you Joyce, you too" he said before hanging up. He went to refill his cup.

"Hey Chief, why are you smiling so much?" Callahan asked mockingly. Hopper didn't notice that he was still smiling after the phonecall ended.

"Have a date Chief?" Powell asked with a more serious tone.

"Yes with your mother, stop chatting so much, and start working" he answered without even smiling. Both of his partners lowered their gazes to the papers they had.

Jim returned to his office, remembering that tonight he would have dinner with his daughter and the Byers, the smile returning brightly to his face.

•

El was on her bedroom reading the play, she found it so interesting and lovely! Yes it was tragic, and she didn't like that, but the romance between Romeo and Juliet was cute. She also thought that Tybalt and the rest of the families were "mouth breathers" but still, she found the play captivating and sweet.

She closed her eyes imagining herself as Juliet in a pretty dress, Hopper and Joyce as her parents with beautiful clothes too, she laughed imagining her adoptive father with such clothing.

She imagined Lucas, Will and Mike entering with the funny clothing too, Mike saying such sweet words to her she felt her cheeks burn. 

There was something El didn't know yet, she got so excited over the play that she didn't read the ending, she thought that at the end Romeo and Juliet lived happily ever after... So who was going to pop the news to her? 

She was still fantasising over the play when she heard the secret knock at the door. 

She opened quickly revealing her adoptive father with shopping bags in his hand.

"Eggos?" She asked.

"Yes, but not now kid, we need to go to Byers's house" he answered in a rush.

"Why is called the Byers house if Mr. Byers doesn't live there?" She asked confused. 

Jim thought about that for a moment. 

"That's the kids last names" he replied.

"They don't like their father, and Joyce is not his wife anymore" she said still kind of puzzled.

"She is legally, look, they will still be the Byers" he said trying to change the subject, they needed to leave now or they would be late.

"It will be better if we all were the Hoppers" she said honestly. Jim's chest ached at that and he didn't know why.

"Let's go, we are late" he replied kind of coldly.

When they were in Hop's blazer, El won't stop talking about the subject.

"I'm a Hopper, right?" She asked.

Jim nodded. "Yes you are Jane Hopper"

"In the future I won't be it" she answered. Hopper eyed her confused as he drove.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Well, when you marry you change your last name to your husband's right?" Hopper was kind of knowing where this was going.

"Yeah..."

"I will be Jane Wheeler then" she said like it was meant to be.

Hopper started coughing, he wasn't drinking anything or chocking, but he could not stop coughing.

"Kid you are too young to think in that kind of things" he answered horrified.

"You should marry Joyce so she could stop being Byers, and be Hopper" she said.

"Okay that's enough"

•

They arrived to the Byers residence and were received by a very bright Joyce, she hugged El tightly and smiled at Hopper who was smiling at her too.

"I brought ice cream, I don't know if that's okay?" He half declared half asked, Joyce chuckled.

"It's perfect Hop, thank you" she said as she closed the door.

Will and Jonathan appeared quickly, El hugged Will, they had this strong bond after all they had experienced together, and they loved each other like siblings. Jonathan also liked El a lot, and he saw her as his little sister.

They sat at the table and Joyce apologized for the food, she was not a great cook but she made the effort.

"I have something to tell you" El said as the ate, everyone turned their eyes at her.

"I want to mount a play with you guys" she said.

"Cool, what play?" Will asked cheerfully.

"Romeo and Juliet" she finally answered. Will's face fell a little.

"Really? It sounds wonderful" Joyce said even though she knew it already.

"Yes! And I want everyone to participate" she turned to her 'brother'.

"Will you will be Benvolio" she said with a smile. Will returned it, he liked the character, even if he wasn't a fan of the play.

"Jonathan you will be Paris, I'm sorry" she said lowering her gaze, Jonathan chuckled.

"It's okay" he said, he liked acting so he didn't mind the character.

"Joyce I want you to be my mama" she said with admiring eyes. Joyce smiled shyly, the words sounding so right.

"And what about Hop?" Joyce asked eyeing him sarcastically.

"My papa of course" she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"El I didn't know you would like such a tragedy" Will said as he ate.

"Yeah, I didn't like the two deaths, well, I don't like Tybalt, but Mercutio's was really sad" El answered truthfully.

Everyone exchanged glances. 

"And Romeo and Juliet..." Jonathan said.

"What about them?" El asked puzzled.

"They die at the end" Will finished.

"What?" She asked horrified.

"Yes kid, they both die at the end, I thought you knew that" Hop said placing his hand on her shoulder.

Eleven seemed really sad and she lowered her gaze. "Forget about it then" her voice cracked.

"No sweetie! We can change the ending if you want to" Joyce said not wanting to see her sad.

"Really?" She asked with bright eyes.

"Of course, we can also avoid the deaths" Jonathan said with a smile.

"We can have a happy ending" Will said to her excited.

"That sounds good" El said with a toothy grin. 

"We need to tell the boys tomorrow!" Will added.

"You need to reunite here" Hop demanded, he still felt insecure to let El go to the other's boys houses, like Wheeler's.

"Can we mom?" Her youngest son asked.

"Of course, after school you all can come here" she said.

"Jonathan, can you tell Nancy and Steve about it?" El asked him. He nodded unsure.

"Okay" he said.

"This is going to be so fun" Eleven declared, everyone seemed excited by her contagious happiness. She looked at all their happy faces smiling at her, she wanted this family, sure she loved her father (she still haven't call him that) but it felt incomplete, the Byers completed them and she was sure that they also completed them in return, so this seemed like a chance to get even closer, although the only "problem" was Joyce and Hopper not able to admit their obvious feelings, but she had a plan for that, and maybe with a little help from Will and even Jonathan they could accomplish it.

"So, we will create our own version of the classic, El do you wanna go to my bedroom to start creating the dialogue! In old English style!" Will exclaimed excited, El nodded vigorously and both of them ran towards the room.

Jonathan also retired to his room to listen to his music and to study for a test. 

Hopper and Joyce were alone still sitting on the table in a quiet comfortable silence, that soon turned kind of awkward.

"El is very creative Hop, I find her project really interesting and the boys seemed excited, I think we still can improve our acting abilities" she chuckled as she got up to clean the dishes.

"I don't know about that, I tell you I suck at it" he answered as he got up too, to help her.

"You don't have to tell me, I saw you back in the day" she laughed, he laughed too.

"Well, I was better at sports" he answered. "That's true" she said smiling.

They looked at each other for what it felt like hours until it Joyce broke the stare.

"Thank you for the invitation Joyce, we had a great time" Hopper said to break the silence.

"You don't need to thanks Hop, you are always welcome here, you make the dinners more fun and bright..." She said lowering her gaze to the dishes to hide her blushing cheeks.

Hop smiled to himself, feeling light and forgetting all the problems and worries he had.

•

"El! Is time to go!" Hopper shouted towards Will's bedroom, they heard their voices non stop for an hour or so, and it was getting late.

Eleven came quickly to the livingroom with a smile on her face. 

"We are finishing the dialogues" she said.

"That's great but we need to leave now" Hopper remembered her, she nodded disappointed.

They said goodbye to each other, and soon the Hoppers were at their home again, El wouldn't call it home because for her the Byers's house felt more like home.

"I had a great time" she said to her adoptive father as she ate some cold eggos. Jim was going to tell her that it was too late to eat waffles, but he wasn't going to gain much from it.

"Me too kid" he answered as he sipped his beer. Eleven sat next to him. 

"I can't wait to start practicing the play" El said looking at him. Hopper chuckled.

"Me either, kid, me either" he replied taking another sip of beer, boy he didn't know what was coming...

**Author's Note:**

> I still don't know why I did this


End file.
